Another wonderful sunny day in Scotland! We arrived in Aberdeen early at 8 o’clock, but we are all early birds and most of us stood on the deck, when Benno described the harbour and the first views on Aberdeen. Aberdeen was founded in 1179. Today the town is named “Silver City by The Sea” because of the grey houses built of granite. It was impressive on the city tour to see the different grey buildings and architectural styles. We saw f. ex. St. Marchar’s Cathedral and the old, venerable university. After enjoying driving on a Sunday-morning – less traffic – we drove to the small castles on the country-side. And as always we recognized that the very nice houses are outside center.
Crathes Castle is not only one of the most beautiful and best preserved castles in Scotland, belonging to one family for over 350 years. Today it belongs to the National Trust of Scotland. Besides the nicely decorated rooms we really loved the gardens, which are divided into eight themed areas by Irish yew hedges which date from 1702. The landscape close to Aberdeen is amazing. Soft hills coloured by different greens and formed by the river Dee.
Some of us walked to the nearby beach close to the harbour, but the real highlight wasn’t the sun or the gardens, it is the tiny little old fishing village Footdee (pronounced “Fittie”). The puzzling cottages have small gardens and are colourful decorated. Outside the houses the people enjoyed obviously the life sitting in the sun, playing with their children and having a cup of tea.
